By Noel Randewich
(Reuters) – Shares of several major U.S. companies fell in extended trade on Wednesday following poor quarterly results and forecasts that underscored fears about a potential recession.
Meta Platforms fell more than 3% after the Facebook owner posted its first-ever quarterly profit decline and issued a gloomy forecast, echoing last week’s warning from its ad tech rival that Snap.
Qualcomm fell more than 2% after offering a fiscal fourth-quarter revenue forecast that missed analysts’ expectations as the mobile chipmaker grapples with tough economic conditions and a slowdown in smartphone demand.
ServiceNow fell 6% after the business software seller cut its forecast for subscription revenues, blaming a stronger dollar. Cloud software heavyweight Salesforce lost more than 2% after the ServiceNow report.
The streak of last-day quarterly reports on Wednesday came after the Nasdaq rose 4% to post its biggest daily percentage gain since April 2020.
Most of the Nasdaq’s gains came after the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 75 basis points, as expected. Some investors view Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s comments as a sign the Fed’s fight to tame decades of high inflation may be done by year’s end.
Data to be released on Thursday will show how much the US economy expanded – or contracted – in the June quarter.
Also after the bell, Best Buy fell 2% after the electronics retailer warned of a deeper-than-expected decline in annual sales, showing that consumers are feeling the pressure of inflation and higher rates. of interest, and curbs spending on discretionary items like computers and TVs.
Teladoc Health, the fifth-largest holding in star investor Cathie Wood’s Ark Innovation ETF, fell 20% after the virtual health care company reported a quarterly loss of $3.1 billion, nearly all of that is from writing down its goodwill value. That compares to a loss of $133 million last year.
(Reporting by Noel Randewich; editing by Richard Pullin)